"Something is at Stake": Northern European Cultural Studies Where, How, and Why?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3384/cu.2000.1525.13589Keywords:
Cultural studies, Scandinavian cultural studies, regional cultural studies, cultural forms, the performative turn, ciritique and ethicsAbstract
In this article, I address the current state of cultural studies in Northern Europe and more specifically in the Nordic countries, especially in Denmark. I take my point of departure in offering an answer to the question, what is cultural studies anyhow? and raise some questions about its future directions. From that, I then discuss how we can reason about regional cultural studies since in so doing we are caught in a dilemma: on the one hand, it provides a way to nuance hegemonic his-tories and ways of mapping the international field but, on the other hand, it also inevitably leads to new generalizations and new inclusions and exclusions. I go on to examine first the (im)possibility of scaling (regional, national, etc.) and, next, the challenge it raises at different levels of setting, i.e., Northern Europe, the Nor-dic countries, and Denmark. Finally, I focus on national, i.e., Danish cultural stud-ies and return to the question of the future of the discipline.
References
Alasuutari, Pertti (1995): Researching Culture: Qualitative Method and Cultural Studies, New York: Sage.
Alasuutari, Pertti (2004): “The Globalization of Qualitative Research”, Clive Seale, Giampietro Gobo, Jaber F. Gubrium; David Silverman (eds):Qualitative Research Practice, London: Sage, 595–608.
Axelsson, Bodil & Johan Fornäs (eds) (2007): Kulturstudier i Sverige [Cultural Studies in Sweden], Stockholm: Studentlitteratur.
Bal, Mieke (2002): Travelling Concepts in the Humanities, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Bech, Henning & Anne S. Sørensen (eds) (2005): Kultur på kryds og tværs [Cultural Intersections], Aarhus: Klim.
Chen, Kuan-hsing (ed.) (1998): “Introduction: The Decolonization Question”, K-H. Chen (ed.): Trajectories: Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, New York: Routledge.
Couldry, Nick (2010): Why Voice Matters, New York: Sage.
Eskola, Katarina & Errki Vainikkala (1994): “Nordic Cultural Studies – An Introduction”, Cultural Studies, 8:2, 191–197. DOI: 10.1080/09502389400490381
Eriksson, Birgit, Christian Jantzen, Karen H. Madsen & Anne S. Sørensen (eds) (2006): Smagskulturer og formidlingsformer [Cultures of Taste and Cultural Mediations], Aarhus: Klim.
Fornäs, Johan (1995): Cultural Theory and Late Modernity, New York: Sage.
Fornäs, Johan (2011): Signifying Europe, Bristol: Intellect Press.
Fornäs, Johan & Mikko Lehtonen (2005): “Between Centres and Peripheries in Transnational Cultural Studies”, U. T. Kovola et al.: Erkki Vainikkala’s Festschrift, http://www.arthis.jyu.fi/julkaisut/tarkkojasiirtoja/lehtonenfornas.html. (accessed 27 February 2013).
Gade, Rune & Anne Jerslev (eds) (2005): Performative Realism: Interdisciplinary Studies in Art and Media, Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.
Hall, Stuart (1992): “Cultural Studies and Its Theoretical Legacies”, Grossberg, Lawrence, Cary Nelson, & Paula Treichler (eds): Cultural Studies, New York: Routledge.
Herod, Andrew (2011): Scale (Key Concepts in Geography), New York: Routledge.
Jansson, André & Amanda Lagerkvist (eds) (2009): Strange Spaces: Explorations into Mediated Obscurity, London: Ashgate.
Johnson, Richard ([1983] 1986/87): “What Is Cultural Studies Anyway”, Social Text, 16, 38–80.
Knudsen, Britta T. & Anne Marit Waade (eds) (2010): Re-Investing Authenticity: Tourism, Place and Emotions, Bristol: Channel View Publications.
Lash, Scott & Celia Lury (2007): Global Culture Industries, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Lehtonen, Mikko (2000): The Cultural Analysis of Texts, New York: Sage.
Lorrimer, Hayden (2005): “Cultural Geography: The Busyness of Being ‘More-Than-Representational’”, Progress in Human Geography, 29, 83–94. DOI: 10.1191/0309132505ph531pr
Morley, David & Kuan-hsing Chen (eds) (1996): Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, New York: Routledge.
Povlsen, Karen K. (2007): Northbound: Travels, Encounters and Constructions, 1780–1830, Aarhus: Aarhus University Press.
Povlsen, Karen K. & Anne S. Sørensen (eds) (2005): Kunstkritik og kulturkamp [Art Criticism and Culture Wars], Aarhus: Klim.
Schröder, Kim, Kirsten Drotner, Stephan Kline, & Catherine Murray (eds) (2003): Researching Audiences, London: Arnold Publishers.
Sørensen, Anne S. & Martin Zerlang (eds) (2006): Kultur uden centre [De-centered Culture], Aarhus: Klim.
Sørensen, Anne S., Ole Martin Høystad, Erling Bjurström, & Halvard Vike (2010): Nye kulturstudier: Teorier og temaer [Cultural Studies: Theories and Themes], Copenhagen: Tiderne Skifter. (Extended and revised edition of Nye kulturstudier [Cultural Studies], Oslo: Spartacus, 2008).
Stratton, John & Ien Ang (1996): “On the Impossibility of a Global Cultural Studies: British Cultural Studies in an International Frame”, David Morley & Kuan-Hsing Chen (eds): Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, New York: Routledge.
Thrift, Nigel (2007): Non-treprensentational Theory: Space, Politics, Affect, London: Taylor & Francis.
Zylinska, Joanna (2005): The Ethics of Cultural Studies, New York: Continuum.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2013 Scott Sørensen
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright for all manuscripts rests with the author(s). The editors reserve the right to edit manuscripts. Contributors are responsible for acquiring all permissions from the copyright owners for the use of quotations, illustrations, tables, etc. Each author must, before final publication fill, in a publishing agreement provided by LiU E-Press.
Since 2021 Culture Unbound uses a Creative Commons: Attribution license for new articles, which allows users to distribute the work and to reform or build upon it without the author's permission. Full reference to the author must be given. For older articles please see each article landing page.
